Manchester City unlikely to pursue Radamel Falcao move

Manchester City are unlikely to make a late move for Radamel Falcao because they already have four strikers, sources have told ESPN FC.

The Colombia international is expected to leave Monaco in the final 24 hours of the transfer window after he was omitted from their squad for Saturday's game against Lille.

Real Madrid are the favourites to sign the 28-year-old, although he claimed a tweet from his account saying "dream come true #halamadrid" was fake.

City have also been linked with the former Atletico Madrid forward, who cost Monaco 60 million euros last summer, but manager Manuel Pellegrini shrugged off talk he would move for Falcao as "just rumours" in his news conference after Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Stoke.

The Premier League champions already have Sergio Aguero, Edin Dzeko, Stevan Jovetic and Alvaro Negredo -- and while the Spaniard has attracted interest from clubs in his homeland, Pellegrini said on Friday that City have had no contact about him in the last month.

Negredo, also a reported target for Real Madrid, is currently sidelined by a metatarsal injury, meaning any buyer might have to forego a medical, while City have been adamant they will not let the former Sevilla player leave for a cut-price fee.

A further consideration for City were they to move for Falcao is financial fair play. After they were found guilty of breaching UEFA's regulations, they were limited to a net spend of 49 million pounds this year.

They have spent 50 million pounds on centre-back Eliaquim Mangala, midfielders Fernando and Bruno Zuculini and goalkeeper Willy Caballero, while their other two summer acquisitions, right-back Bacary Sagna and on-loan Frank Lampard, did not command transfer fees.

However, they have also recouped 22 million pounds by selling Javi Garcia to Zenit St Petersburg and Jack Rodwell to Sunderland and received a further 2 million pounds from Everton when Gareth Barry signed a contract at Goodison Park, following on from his loan move last year.

Micah Richards, Scott Sinclair and John Guidetti are all available for transfer after Pellegrini informed them they did not figure in his plans, but none would command a sizeable price.